Smyrna administrative assistant named 2025 Delaware Educational Support Professional of the Year

A registration administrative assistant from Smyrna School District's Smyrna Elementary School is the state's 2025 Delaware Educational Support Professional of the Year.

Melissa Wilson's role is to support students. That could mean everything from helping families register children for school to greeting them as the first person they see when they enter building to partnering with the PTO on building enhancements to providing emotional support with the help of her personal therapy dog, Rebel.

"From the outset, Rebel demonstrated a unique ability to connect with our special needs students and general education students alike - a quality I had not observed in my previous dogs. This inspired me for the implementation of a therapy dog program aimed at enriching the lives of our students," Wilson said. "The joy Rebel brings to both students and staff is evident, particularly during his visits to the office and during hallway training sessions."

Rebel has earned his therapy dog certification as well as additional certifications in Animal Assisted Activities, Animal Assisted Education and Animal Assisted Therapy. This allows him to collaborate with the school occupational therapist. He also supports the school psychologist. Rebel visits classrooms to highlight the benefits of having a therapy dog while the school psychologist educates students on the emotional advantages of canine interaction. Rebel supports learning experiences from reading sessions to math activities. Fridays are "Dear Rebel" days, where students submit questions for him, practicing their sentence skills.

"I announce his jingle and invite the selected student to read their questions over the intercom, which they thoroughly enjoy," Wilson said. "We capture a photo with Rebel and provide them with a special sticker as a keepsake.

Wilson "leads our front office with a servant's heart and represents our school and district's core values through all she does," Associate Principal Leslie Gregory said. "Mrs. Wilson consistently builds meaningful relationships with our families and students."

Added Supervisor of Instruction David H. Morrison, "Missy steps well outside the bounds of her job description, assisting whenever and wherever needed, including arrival/dismissal supervision, lunch supervision, and assisting classroom calls with her certified service dog, Rebel."

Secretary of Education Mark Holodick made the announcement tonight during a statewide celebration to honor the 2025 cohort of district/charter educational support professionals of the year. They were chosen to represent their districts or the Delaware Charter School Network in the state's Delaware Educational Support Professional of the Year Program.

The Delaware State Educational Support Professional of the Year program recognizes outstanding service by school employees who provide direct or indirect services to students and their families. The Delaware Charter School Network also is invited to participate. Employees considered for the award include:

• Paraprofessionals
• Custodial staff
• Secretaries
• Nutritional staff
• School- and district-employed bus drivers
• School- and district-employed bus aides
• Information technology staff

From those nominated at a building level, one educational support professional of the year moves forward to represent each district or the charter school community in the state program. Each district/charter network winner receives a $2,000 personal award from the winner's district or charter school. The state program then chooses one person annually to serve as Delaware's Educational Support Professional of the Year. The state winner receives an additional $3,000 personal award from the department as well as $5,000 from the department to be used for the educational benefit of his or her students.

DDOE is excited to recognize Wilson and all of the outstanding professionals whose work is vital to students' success.

The 2025 honorees are:

• Appoquinimink: Tina Finch, school secretary, Bunker Hill Elementary School
• Brandywine: Howard Laws, district mail courier, SITE Program
• Caesar Rodney: LaToya Smith, special education paraprofessional, W. Reily Brown Elementary School
• Cape Henlopen: Zachary Coffman, computer lab manager, Milton Elementary School
• Capital: Leisha Rutkowski, administrative secretary, Capital District Office
• Charter Network: Brandon Gray, behavior interventionist, Kuumba Academy Charter School
• Christina: Donna Smith, paraprofessional, Shue-Medill Middle School
• Colonial: Gabriel Phillips, strategic communications specialist, Colonial District Office
• Delmar: Robin Cox, in-school intervention paraprofessional, Delmar Middle & Senior High School
• Indian River: Allison Wright, paraprofessional, Indian River High School
• Lake Forest: Ann Busker, paraprofessional, Lake Forest North Elementary School
• Laurel: Sara Jo Whaley, multilingual learner paraprofessional, Laurel Middle High School
• Milford: Kyle Moore, student information systems specialist, Milford Curriculum Office
• New Castle County Vo-Tech: Grace Miller, instructional paraprofessional, Delcastle Technical High School
• POLYTECH: Breahna Pierce, paraprofessional, POLYTECH High School
• Red Clay Consolidated: Bernice Witmer, lead nutrition worker, Early Learning Center
• Seaford: Emma J. Trammell, paraprofessional, Seaford Middle School
• Smyrna: Melissa Wilson, registration administrative assistant, Smyrna Elementary School
• Sussex Tech: Domineque Scott, coordinator of student activities and student government, Sussex Technical High School
• Woodbridge: Heather Ray Taylor, enrollment/finance secretary, Woodbridge Early Childhood Education Center

Find photos of the nominees and learn more about the program here.

Media contact: Alison May, [email protected], 302-735-4006

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